Burrito West Blog

Yesterday I got to go on a tour of some passive house facilities. Spent the day on a bus with 37 other professionals and visited a pre-fab facility, a low-energy prefab house under construction and a finished passive house.

It was all interesting stuff but the finished passive house at the end of the day stuck with me. It was in Whistler, where land prices are insane. It was on a lake with a view of snow-capped mountains. It was 5300 sqft with 7 bathrooms. It had stunning views. It had a secret door that opened to reveal a playroom with a climbing wall, stage, 2 story playhouse with firepole. The place was amazing. And crazy. And I don't believe it was the primary home.

Sometimes living here has the ability to make me feel very poor. Which is crazy, because Peter and I are far from being poor. I wish the world wasn't so troubling.

Aside from feeling poor I'm left with one lingering thought: why 7 bathrooms?

My violin instructor has me practicing playing two strings together on my violin and it's infuriatingly hard.  After spending all my previous time trying very hard not to hit two strings, to now try and do it deliberately and consistently and evenly is annoying hard. And it sounds awful. And I suspect I have many more hours of practice ahead of me.

Because my practices usually sound so awful, I practice with a mute on my violin (I don't want to be evicted).  When I go to my lesson, she takes my mute off and my violin sounds SO LOUD (it is right by my ear after all). Because it sounds SO LOUD, I am wimpy with my bow - basically trying to be quiet. So she spends a lot of time telling me to use more bow pressure.  Which is all to say - how awesome would it be if I had a soundproof room I could practice in?  I once suggested this to an apartment building that was running a contest asking for suggestions for what amenity space they should provide.  As an apartment-dweller the idea of having a room where you could blast your music as loudly as you want or rock out on whatever instrument you play, or just have a screaming session seems pretty awesome. They didn't see the brilliance.  Too bad, I'd jump at an apartment building with that amenity space. Who needs a whirlpool if you've got a soundproof room?  

Every ball at a royal palace deserves its own post!

Going to Vienna to dance is an extravagance, but man oh man is it nice. This year going to Vienna from Vancouver we were much more charmed by the old European architecture than when we went from Poland, so it had a new veneer of specialness to it all.

First, the dress.
I spent a ridiculous amount of time dress hunting online. Searching for something really affordable, ideally not made by child labour overseas. Impossible, you say! And you'd be right, I think. So I started checking thrift stores, hoping for something I could take to a local designer to make acceptable. And I got lucky. Found this satin ball gown as good as new for $20 and it fit almost perfectly. I actually left it at the thrift store, went home, realized I was being stupid and went back to get it.

I went to local designer, Shelley Klassen of Blushing Boutique and together we modified the dress to be 1) not strapless, and 2) a bit more dramatic with a gathering of lace falling from my shoulder and trailing down the back.

Here are the before photos - not bad for $20, right?


Here's the after:


So for the second time I got to go to a fancy event wearing a custom-made one of a kind gown that cost me less than $300. I was very pleased.  Here's a link to last time, if you're curious.

This time I made sure to have it hemmed short enough for ballroom dancing! Win!

The Ball.
We went to the TU Ball (technical university ball) again this year. It's one of the more affordable balls held in the royal palace and we enjoyed it last time. Also there's a race car parked in the lobby of the palace, so that's a bonus.

My sister and her boyfriend joined us from London and attending the event with other people was fun - that's what was missing from our first event for sure.

Arriving at the palace is a bit surreal - walking up to a place that would otherwise be a tourist attraction and getting to walk right in. After getting tickets and coat/shoe check taken care of, we headed up the grand staircase (red carpet included).

We skipped the opening performance because you really can't see anything of it unless you have a table in the main ballroom. I have heard other balls put screens up in the other rooms so more people can watch, so maybe one day we'll see what happens. Sadly we showed up late enough that we also missed the photographers they have stationed on the stairs taking souvenir photos. My cellphone photos would have to do.
We toured the palace, checked out all the rooms. Kicked people out of our reserved table in the Wintergarden room and had some drinks. Spent our evening alternating between dancing and recovering at our table. Michelle brought her GoPro and I did a few dances holding it on Peter's shoulder so you can see what it looks like from my perspective when doing the viennese waltz - see below for a hastily - assembled video.

Dancing in these beautiful, grand spaces is amazing. I can't really put it into words.

The 2:30am quadrille (formation dance) was insanely crowded and a gong show. I think maybe 30% of people actually know what they're doing. Watching the quadrille is a highlight; very entertaining. Here's a video I took of the quadrille in 2014 (the one in the video was less of a gong show, for reference).

Michelle and Nathan were very good sports, being non-dancers. They left at 3:30am and Peter and I only lasted another hour. The dance floor gets wonderfully open starting at about 3am. Maybe next time we'll show up very late and stay until closing at 5am to maximize our dancing fun. I'm curious to see how they get everyone out of the palace at closing.

The Photos. (The rest are on flickr here)

Peter and I dancing around 3:30am. I am holding a go-pro. You can see the blue in my hair matches my dress. ;)

The video
I put together some of the clips so you can get a feel for the dancing.  Included is gopro footage of what a Viennese waltz looks like from my perspective (answer, dizzying).




Pressing questions I know you must have:

Were we able to do the viennese waltz this year?
Kind of? We were definitely more prepared than last time (practice and many lessons) and we did do better, but it's still very challenging. The dance floor is sooo crowded for most of the night and the music is sooo fast. And traffic jams on the dance floor happy so easily. A few more years of practice and I think we'll nail it.

Think you'll go again?
Probably. We really like Vienna, it's a relaxed place to visit and the ball is really fun for us - a chance to use all the dance skills we've aquired. It's surprisingly hard to find opportunities to waltz and foxtrot in regular life. We might try to join this Waltz Week thing to meet other dancers, it sounds fun:  http://www.waltzweekinvienna.com/

How hot and sweaty was it?
Dancing in formal wear is very hot and sweaty. All those images of civilized people being all proper at balls back in the day - erase those now, everyone must have been incredibly hot and sweaty.

Pro tip if you ever go to a ball - dancers who know what they're doing will rotate around the outside of the dance floor.  If  you can't keep up with that, you want to hang out in the centre of the dance floor so you aren't in the way. Traffic jams during a viennese waltz are awful.

Since our return from sabbatical Peter and I have not taken a vacation together longer than a week, so our two week trip to Austria, once booked, became something we were both really looking forward to!

Yes, we booked a trip to Austria in January, which is a bit strange. But ball season in Jan/Feb and Vienna is lovely without the crowds, so it's actually a great idea.

I even remembered to check my passport expiry date and get myself to the passport office over a week before departure (instead of the day before departure like last time)!

We left the night of the 24th and arrived late on the 25th very confused about what day it was. Jetlag hit us hard on this trip. Small price to pay, I think but it definitely hits us harder as we get older.

Central Cafe, our fave.

Our hotel was lovely (it had a bed, which after 11 hours of travel is a wonderful thing). Vienna was warm. We spent our first day in a cafe near the hotel, because one of the primary objectives of the trip was: "sit in cafes". Vienna cafe culture is really really wonderful.

We went to the Tech Museum and looked at old things and enormous industrial things, and waited for kids to get out of our way so we could play with the displays. There was a cool automated writing machine from 1760 - amazing.

The next day my sister and her partner Nathan arrived! Yay! I'm so glad they were able to pop over from London to meet us.

We walked the pedestrian street downtown and Michelle and I recalled when we were in Vienna together in the summer of 2004!

After dinner we went to the Elmyer Dance School for the private lesson I scheduled in the hopes that they could a) show Michelle & Nathan some basics for the ball and b) tell Peter and I the secret to navigating a crowded dance floor during the Viennese waltz. Michelle and Nathan are not dancers and they were very good sports about it all! Viennese waltz is one of the hardest dances, our studio doesn't even attempt to teach you until you're in level 3 - we were curious to know if the dance school would have a magic way of teaching it (not really).


Going to the ball was different this time because we had a better idea of what to expect, so we could relax about the details. We walked to the palace in our finery and had a lovely evening. Peter and I did better on the dance floor this time (still a challenge to do a Viennese waltz).

Gotzens/Mutters ski area

Peter made it to the funeral and visited with family, then got norovirus, then had a delayed flight but eventually made it to Innsbruck a few days after me. We took a bus to a local ski hill where he picked up the gear he had rented in advance and we gondola'ed up a mountain. I hung out in the restaurant at the top enjoying the view while he got in some runs. Snow conditions weren't awesome, but okay. It was nice to get out to the mountains.

We headed back to Vienna and enjoyed some more time in cafes, then it was time to leave.

We have a history of our flights getting buggered up. Most famously when we returned from a trip to Scotland specifically to catch a flight to Ottawa for my convocation (undergrad). And got stuck in Chicago where our flight to Ottawa was cancelled - so my mom and grandmother went to my convocation without me. Bummer. Which is all to say we generally expect to get delayed at some point.

This time our flight to London never left Vienna. We all sat on it for 2.5 hrs but it never left the gate. They let us off and Peter and I made a b-line for the check in counter (which meant going back through passport control) and each got in a line to try and figure out if there was any way to get to London for our flight. By the time we got to the counter it was too late for that so we had them book us on the same stuff the next day and they put us up in the airport hotel.

Fortunately, we had booked to come home early so being delayed a day caused no grief other than missing the cats. We spent the afternoon in Museum Cafe and enjoyed a free dinner at the hotel. We did feel bad for everyone in the airport line behind us (we were at the very front of the line and it took 25min to get us sorted out; the poor people at the end of the line!).
Second time was a charm - all our flights flew as scheduled and we made it to Vancouver!

Sadly, our checked bags did not.

And I had stupidly put our house keys in the checked bag.

So, after a side trip to our cat-sitter (thank god she was home) to pick up spare keys, we were home. Home is so glorious after a long trip. It's comfortable and has all the stuff you need, and cuddly cats who are glad to see you.


Vacations are nice. Coming home is also nice.

By the canal at night.

I had big plans over the holiday to practice violin a lot, since I'm normally pretty slack about it and I know there's no progress without practice. In the end it just didn't happen.  For some reason I am only in the mood in the evenings and Peter is generally home then and I want to do things with him and/or not make him suffer through it (even with a mute on a badly played violin is a terrible thing).  So, when I went to my violin lesson last night - the first lesson in over a month - I was a bit worried. The piece I was supposed to be practicing hadn't had a lot of practice (I crammed all last week though).  And I played it better than I ever have (usually I play worse at the lesson than at home)!  It was pretty awesome. Seriously, usually things go terribly at the lesson, so this was a nice switch.  :)

It's the hardest part of learning any new thing - persevering when you suck at it. Dance is the same way - early on there were lots of times when we didn't feel like going because we were stuck and didn't think we'd improve... but of course we stuck with it and did improve. We're still challenged at dance (there's always more to learn) but we're also at a place where we can have fun in any dance situation. This is probably truer for me because Peter is limited by what he knows where I am only limited by what my partner knows, and when I dance with someone very experienced it can be an adventure.

Violin is years away from being fun. Seriously. And I knew that going in - it's a long road. I'm trying to find enjoyment in it anyway - the fact that it uses a different part of my brain, appreciating the small bits of progress.  I envy musicians who can just pick up an instrument and play, but then, they put in a lot of practice over many years, I'm just late to the party.

Peter and I started 2016 by going for an 11km walk around the city. We were feeling pretty fat after our NYE eating so we just started walking. Stopped somewhere for tea then kept going. It's handy having a city with a really long waterfront walkway. It started out foggy and dramatic and ended up sunny and warm. Lovely way to spend the day.

I've got an app on my phone that turns photos into wispy art that I quite like. I'm sure I'll get over it soon, but in the meantime:

2015. Weird year.

Got stuck at work doing something boring and stressful (and not my skill set) so going to work hasn't been any fun. Peter started a new job and they required stupid amounts of overtime during the summer. Sprained my ankle (interrupting my new kickboxing hobby), sliced a chunk off my thumb (first visit to the ER). Lost Kitty.

On the flip side. Gained a snuggly Carlos cat from Katie's Place and got to watch him relax and put on weight and enjoy being loved. (Finally got to fulfill my dream of walking into a shelter and asking who needs a home most?) Developed sympathy for permit processing clerks and plan checkers (thankless never ending job). Learned how to do a dance called the Peabody which is easy and tons of fun. Got to visit Montreal and Ottawa - haven't been there in 10 years or so.  Went on my first kayak camping trip with friends and survived. Dyed half of my hair blue (it's awesome). My writing experiment, Project Persuasion, finished and I got nice compliments from fans.

The federal election? Huge relief. COP21 - global climate change agreement, gives one hope (I still wouldn't buy any low-lying waterfront property, however).

Overall, I know I'm lucky. I've got lovely friends, supportive family, everything I need and then some.  I am looking forward to an adjustment at work in February that will have me doing other projects, ones that will engage my brain again - that will be a huge relief. When work sucks it kind of drags everything down with it, doesn't it?

Closing with some photos from dance taken in December - Peter and I agreed to participate in a group routine (unusual for us!) - bit of charleston, jive, and peabody. The other 3 are way better performers than I but it was fun. Looking forward to January - dancing at the palace in Vienna!  I hope 2016 holds many promises of awesomeness for everyone.



 

There's a running list in the sidebar of this blog that tracks all the books I've read in a given year. (Also, I'm on goodreads - look me up if you're on there too.) Thought I'd try a year-end summary in case it helps others find books to read... so in chronological order of when I read them:

1. Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple - heard a bit of hype about this one. It was okay - felt like it was trying too hard to be wacky.

2. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent - lovely writing but not much in the way of plot or resolution; not my cup of tea.

3. The Homesman by Glendon Swarthout - well written but a hard story to read.

4. The Execution of Noa P. Singleton by Elizabeth L. Silver - listened to this as an audio book on a road trip. Meh.

5. Ablutions by Patrick deWitt- saw this author speak at a festival and learned he actually spent a year working in a dive bar - found this book more interesting for knowing that. Loved the writing more than the characters or the story, but that was enough to get it a good review from me.

6. The Peripheral by William Gibson - I always really enjoy William Gibson books and really struggle with them. I have to accept that I won't understand what is going on at least 20% of the time (probably more). Partly because he writes about future states that don't exist and the technology they use/cultural norms, partly because he's kind of vague in his writing. But I find his work so interesting, I am always drawn it. This was no exception.

7. Ace, King, Knave by Maria McCann - enjoyed it.

8. Embassytown by China Mieville - I read this fairly quickly, so it gets points for keeping me interested... but overall it was lacking for me. Another reviewer said it best, I think: "Avice was not, for the most part of the book, compelling as a protagonist. None of the minor characters held my attention. So I wandered, bereft of an anchor, through a sea of explanation and exposition about the Arieke and Language. It was like reading an interesting but fictional textbook on an alien culture.

Remember that exam I wrote back in May?  The one I spent all my free time studying for?

I finally found out that I passed!

I am now a certified Passive House Consultant!

(Such a relief because the exam was very detailed and challenging and not something I want to write again!)

I'm putting one of the many exam prep questions I did below to give a little flavour of what the exam was like.  Now I just have to start building a passive house!  If anyone wants to build a passive house, give me a call - I think it would be fun.  :)

This trip to Ottawa and Montreal is the first vacation travel that Peter and I have done since returning from Europe, which is a horrifying summary of how busy and sucky work life has been.  It`s also a bit related to the fact that our urge to sightsee/explore new places disappeared entirely after Europe.

This trip has been dipping our toes back in the travel waters to see if we enjoy it still.  And the verdict is mixed. Vacationing is nice. Sightseeing.... meh.  Ottawa was lovely because I vaguely remembered the place from when I lived there long long ago and it is pleasant to be in a city where you know enough to navigate and can revisit places you once knew.  Also - exploring an english-speaking place is so easy! Giddy-making easy!

Montreal has been interesting - we have never visited here properly despite living in ottawa for 4 years.  We have done a lot of walking and gone in a museum and visited parks - so we are playing tourist fairly well. We are sure to put in a lot of down time so we return home rested rather than exhausted.  It's nice, but the urge to explore didn't last long if I am honest.  We spend a lot of time in cafes.

I do love how bilingual this city is (in the downtown core at least) - I understand the French mostly but I can reply in English and no one seems offended. I'm amazed at the number of people here who are bilingual (and many of them probably tri-lingual). Makes me jealous - if only I had gone to French immersion school, I too could have been bilingual!!  *sigh*

We're trying to make plans for our February trip to Europe for the ball in Vienna(!) and we are honestly scratching our heads trying to figure out what to do with our time in Europe since our usual approach of wandering around cities doesn't work so well in cold winter places. Our general lack of sightseeing curiosity isn't helping.  We're currently thinking we go to Vienna, then Innsbruck for Peter to go snowboarding, then maybe to Munich before ending in Krakow or Prague to visit Peter's sister.

If anyone has suggestions for things to do other than sightseeing, let me know. We're excited for the ball and seeing people who live over in Europe, but we aren't as excited as we should be about the rest. Looks like our year in Europe broke us.

First world problems for sure, I know.

Peter happy to be in a quirky live music venue in Montreal

Carlos had to go in for dental surgery and have quite a few teeth removed, but since recovering from surgery he seems better and is eating well which is good because he's a scrawny guy!  We're very glad to discover that if you wrap a pill in sandwich meat Carlos will wolf it down without noticing. Pilling a cat has never been so easy. He may need to have more teeth removed (they ran out of time during the last surgery) but that will have to wait until Peter and I get back because..... I am taking my first vacation of 2015!

It has sucked not being able to take vacation. There is a bit more support at work right now and also I think I care less, so I'm taking a week and a half off.  It should be enough of a break to keep me sane a bit longer. Peter is already in Ottawa for work - I'll join him there and we'll go to Montreal for a few days.  Even though I lived in Ottawa for 4 years (a long time ago), I've never properly visited Montreal so I'm really looking forward to this!  Also to having free time with Peter. He's been working increasingly crazy hours in preparation for the Ottawa trip and his work has promised to leave him alone for a few days while we are in Montreal.

Today I cleaned up the apartment and packed and went and sat on the beach for a bit. There's nothing better than sitting on the beach with a book on a sunny day when most people are at work.  I'm so ready for this vacation!

In the craziness that has been the past month (losing Kitty, Peter working insane hours... again), I failed to blog about my August long weekend camping trip!

Last year it was a hike up to Garibaldi which was the most beautiful trip I've ever done and my first time camping with ladies only. Also, someone brought a water filter so we didn't have to ration water which changed the entire camping experience for me. It was lots of fun. So when Amanda, the mastermind behind that trip was planning for this year, it didn't really matter what she proposed, I was going.

This time it was a kayak camping trip in Sechelt Inlet.

Peter dropped the 3 of us and our gear off at the ferry and we headed to the Sunshine Coast and then caught a bus that took us within walking distance of the kayak rental/launch at Halfmoon Bay. We took some time to load our 2 kayaks (many dry sacs and lots of water) and headed out!

We quickly learned that I am terrible at steering a double kayak, hopeless actually, so we found some shallow water and switched out. Other than that, it was smooth paddling in pretty scenery and perfect weather.

We stopped on a beach to rest and have some food and admire the view. After a few hours we landed at Nine Mile Point and decided to try to find a campsite (busiest camping weekend of the year).

We squished our two tents into a spot that was kind of occupied (they were very understanding) and breathed a sigh of relief because we were far too tired to kayak to the next camping site. We unloaded our kayaks and moved them up above the tide line.

I was very happy to be sitting on a beach a and our hangout spot was pretty awesome.

We had some tasty re-hydrated food for dinner (no really, it's not bad), some wine, and conversation and watched the sun set.

The next day Amanda and Sara took the double kayak and went exploring. I very happily stayed on the beach with my book, got cozy in the shade and did a lot of reading.  I also pondered why I don't spend more time reading on the beach, it's possibly one of my favorite things to do.

We had another lovely evening (this time with fresh pineapple and champagne) and remarked on what a good idea this trip was.

We were really lucky because it was unusually warm, even at night so we could sit out on the beach after the sun set and watch the stars and check the water for luminescence (it is sometimes really bright in this inlet). We went wading in the water in the dark and there were some sparkles, but nothing dramatic enough to make it worth dragging the kayaks out. We chatted with the guy whose campsite we had crowded onto and discovered he's in the sustainability biz - always nice to run into good people randomly.

The next day we had to head back to reality. We packed everything up and headed out.


Unfortunately, the winds were blowing against us and the water was quite choppy. I was in the front of the double kayak to start and I got
soaked immediately by some waves. It was pretty funny actually. I've only ever kayaked in calm water before.  This was harder. A lot harder. If you paused to take a break or drink water, you would go backwards. There were some corners we went around where the wind blew really strong where we kind of doubted if we would make it around. But we did!

It took us 5 hours of paddling (with just 1 beach break) to make it back to the kayak launch. I've never been so happy to land on a beach and exit a kayak before.  We had survived though, which gives one a sense of accomplishment. Also, we happened to paddle by a rock covered in seals which was pretty neat.

We had been looking forward to visiting the pub that is conveniently located next to the kayak launch, but getting back took much longer than expected so we had to run to catch the bus to catch the ferry. The kayak launch owner gave us and our gear a lift to the bus stop, thank god - the thought of walking with all that gear, ugh. And we caught the ferry, yay!  And Peter picked us up at the ferry terminal on the other side, saving us from cramming onto a crowded bus to Vancouver, double yay! (Peter is very popular among the girls I go camping with because of his heroic efforts to always pick us up.)

Things I learned on this trip: after 5 solid hours of kayaking, my fingers will twitch for a few hours which is very unsettling. Then they will swell up the next day. Also, I learned I don't hate pineapple the way I used to - guess I just needed to have it in the right setting.  Finally, I took the day after our return off work which was the best idea ever - gave me time to recover (so sore) and unpack.

I'm grateful to my friend Amanda for dreaming up these excursions and for teaching us newbs about camping stuff. I still don't consider myself an outdoorsy person, but I enjoy excursions like this once a year.  :)

Trip photos uploaded to flickr here.